


Shattered like Glass

by smile_it_will_get_better



Series: Umbrella Academy Oneshots [1]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Allison Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Angst, Dave Needs A Hug, Dave is a literal sweetheart and I love him almost as much as Klaus does, Diego Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Five Stages of Grief, Grief/Mourning, HUG THEM ALL, Hurt Klaus Hargreeves, I can't call it a happy ending, Its three am I need to stop tagging things omg, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Klaus Hargreeves Whump, Klaus dies in this one, Klaus kind of dies, Luther Hargreeves Needs A Hug, M/M, Number Five | The Boy Needs A Hug, The siblings are kind of assholes, Vanya Hargreeves Needs A Hug, and it's sad, but I love them anyways, but it's not as sad as the first one?, but not really?, read to find out, sorta - Freeform, they are going through things dammit, to me at least, you guys might not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2020-09-19 01:40:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20322988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smile_it_will_get_better/pseuds/smile_it_will_get_better
Summary: Dave let his fingers wander over the case, feeling the cracked leather under his fingers. He wondered what could possibly be inside.Whatever it was, he decided he would find out.He found the clasps, clicking them both open and sliding the lid open.The next thing he knew, he was sitting on a bus....My take on what would happen if Klaus was the one to get shot in Vietnam, not Dave.Basically an excuse for Dave to go to the present and chew the siblings out whoops.





	Shattered like Glass

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fic I've written where Klaus isn't really in it but that's because I killed him whoops.
> 
> Anyways, I wrote this while on a 12-hour flight but I am so tired so I hope you guys enjoy it.

Dave had watched his world implode a few times already. 

There were so many times he could barely count them, too many times he felt like that was the end, there was nowhere he could go from there. And yet every single time he kept moving, kept walking through life and living it in spite of everything that tried to drag him down. 

But this? 

This might truly be it. 

He sat on his dirty cot; his feet planted on the ground but he felt like he was floating a thousand miles above. His hands were covered in blood, and if he even thought whose blood it was he would truly break down. 

He sat on his dirty cot and could feel himself fracturing, a thousand little lines drawing into his skin, delicately carving him apart with every second. He knew that if he moved, said anything, even thought about what happened, then he would simply shatter into a million pieces. 

He stared down at his hands, and idly wondered how he was crying. He was in hysterics when it happened, and he cried then. But now? It was like all his tears were dried out, and all that was left was a whole lot of nothing. 

It was like he was waiting for someone to tell him it was all a dream, that Klaus would waltz into the tent in a few seconds and everything would be better again. That the man who filled up every aspect of Dave’s soul would come back and bring back everything that made him human, not just a glass sculpture one tap from breaking apart. 

But Klaus was dead. 

He was dead. 

And so was Dave. 

His eyes fluttered shut, and lifting his hands to his face felt like he was lifting a hundred pounds, like he was made out of led. He pressed the heel of his hands to his eyes, the darkness a relief against the emptiness of the cot beside him. 

He regretted it when the pictures started playing on the inside of his eyelids. 

Dave couldn’t help himself from seeing it, from replaying the scene over again in his mind. 

Klaus had turned to him mid-battle, that stupid grin that made Dave’s heart flutter plastered on his face. He said something about it being a close one, the words almost lost in the chaos of the battle. He had leaned just a bit too far, revealing himself to the enemy as he leaned close in order to hear Dave’s reply. 

Dave would never forget the look of surprise that crossed Klaus’s face, the way the smile fell and joy melted into confusion and pain. He would never forget the way Klaus’s lips formed his name, the way he fell down like a puppet with his strings cut. 

The tears were back, and Dave bit back a sob as he yanked his hands back, his eyes flying open in hopes that it was all a dream, that Klaus would be beside him, shaking him awake and telling him it was all a bad dream. 

A heavy hand laid on his shoulder, and Dave startled, half hoping that maybe his fantasy was right, maybe it was all a dream. 

But when he turned to look at whoever it was, it wasn’t Klaus’s face staring down at him with his beautiful green eyes, it was Chaz, their resident commander, a sad look on his face. 

Dave felt his hopes crumble once again, and he tried to pretend that he wasn’t mourning the loss of his lover, that he was simply another soldier sad to see a friend go. 

“Here,” Chaz said, gentler than Dave had ever heard him talk. “These are for you.” 

His hand shoved something into Dave’s numb ones, and Dave looked down at shock when he felt the cool press of metal through his fingers. 

Sitting in his hands were Klaus’s dog tags, such an innocent-looking thing compared to the red of Dave’s hand. It was still wet from where they probably scrubbed off Klaus’s blood. 

“Why?” He asked without thinking, his voice raw from when he spent nearly ten minutes screaming in hopes that someone would hear him, would help him save the only person he lived for. 

“Because it feels right,” Chaz said, looking away. “Hargreeves- Klaus- was a good soldier and a good man. And we all know how much he meant to you.” 

Chaz paused, letting the intention set in. He knew about them. Dave should feel scared, terrified that this meant that he would be dragged out back and a bullet would be put into his skull. That they would simply say that he died in the raid. But he couldn’t feel anything. 

“His stuff is yours too,” Chaz continued. “He has no family listed, so there’s no one to send it to. He doesn’t have much, but it yours.” 

Chaz nodded, as if he accomplished all he wanted to say. He made to leave, before pausing and placing a heavy hand on Dave’s shoulder. 

“I’m sorry,” He said, his voice a lot lower now. “There’s nothing I can say to make this any easier, to make any of this any better, but I am sorry.” 

Then he was gone, leaving Dave sitting there, staring at the dog tags in his hands. 

The last piece of Klaus that he had left. 

There was finality to it, the sudden realization that yeah, this was it. Klaus truly was dead. 

He couldn’t ignore the rush of anger that overcame him, and she curled his hand into a fist, the metal digging into his skin. 

Why did he have to do that? Couldn’t he have just stayed down where it was safe? They lasted ten whole months, and this was how it ended. Klaus wasn’t meant to die; it wasn’t meant to end like this. They were going to finish their tour and go home, to a small cottage just outside of the big city. They had planned it all out and everything, they would go home, live in the small cottage left to Dave when his grandma died. 

It was supposed to be perfect; they were supposed to grow old together. 

But Klaus was dead, and there was nothing Dave could do about it. 

His fist lashed out, punching the already rushed metal frame of the bed. It hurt like hell, the pain reminding Dave that he was alive still, that he was here when Klaus was not. 

A dry sob ripped out of his throat, more tears stinging his eyes as he crumbled, carefully lifting the tags to his lips and pressing them against them. The cold metal stung his dry lips, and he sat there for a long time, tags pressed against his lips and tears streaming down his face. 

Once he felt somewhat more stable, he slipped the tags over his head and unsteadily got to his feet, stumbling over to Klaus’s bed, kneeling in the packed dirt in front of it. It felt wrong to sit on the actual bed without Klaus’s warm body pressed beside him, whispering into his ear or the two of them just sitting together. 

His hands ghosted over the odd knick-knacks Klaus kept. He didn’t come here with much, but over the months he had gained a small collection of random things he thought held meaning. 

An eyeliner pencil he got from one of the girls in a club, a traditional fan he bought from one of the street vendors, various wrappers from the different types of foods he ate, a cool looking rock he found on one of their patrols. 

He flipped through a few of the letters Klaus sent back and forth between him and a random person from an address the men all made up. He considered reading a few, but the thought of reading Klaus’s recent unfinished letter made something deep inside him ache so he put them down. 

Under his bed was the only thing Klaus came to camp with, a heavy black briefcase he never let anyone touch. 

It was the only thing Klaus never told him about, and every time Dave asked to look inside he would close off, telling Dave to not ask about it again. Dave had only asked twice, once when he first showed up, and once a few weeks ago when he caught Klaus staring at it, a conflicted look on his face. 

Dave remembered sitting beside Klaus, an arm snaking around him as he buried his head into Klaus’s neck. He had asked Klaus about it, ready to get shot down but Klaus only looked down at him with a weird look on his face and told him that he would tell him at some point. 

He never got to. 

That thought hurt, and for a long moment Dave thought he would put the briefcase back down and pretend he never picked it up. It felt wrong even debating the idea of opening it, not when Klaus didn’t want him to. But, Klaus said he would tell him, that one day he would share. But he was unable to now, so who cared if he did. He kind of hoped that Klaus would march in there to tear it out of his hands.

The Viennese people heavily believed in ghosts, in fact, the last time they were in town one of the locals managed to trap Klaus and him in a very lengthy discussion of the fear that their dead would not get to the proper afterlife. In Viennese culture, they worried that their dead wouldn’t find peace, and would be stuck wandering around as a tortured spirit, unable to rest. Dave had found it enchanting, the concern they had for the dead. Klaus had only shook his head and stared at a random point in the air. 

Later, while they lay in each other's arms, Klaus told him that maybe some spirits found peace, but not enough in his opinion. He told Dave about the ghosts he could see, how the haunted him day in and day out. Dave had held him closer and hoped that the warmth of his embrace was enough to cancel out the chill the ghosts gave him.

The thought of Klaus’s ghost standing above him, watching him grieve and hold his belongings, Dave wasn’t sure if it was comforting or not. It was easier to pretend that Klaus wasn’t there, just out of his reach. 

(Klaus was there, as a ghost, begging him not to open the briefcase. He was hysterical, his ghostly fingers grasping onto the briefcase as much as a spirit could, begging Dave not to open it and leave him. Begging him to stay here where Klaus was and not leave him alone with only the ghosts to keep him company. His pleas went unanswered.) 

Dave let his fingers wander over the case, feeling the cracked leather under his fingers. He wondered what could possibly be inside. Pieces from Klaus’s past? Photos of his family, of the siblings Klaus sometimes told him about. Was it a stash of drugs he kept to keep him sane? Dave knew about Klaus’s problems with addiction, knew the man’s history with drugs. Or was it something else, something that Dave couldn’t even imagine? 

Whatever it was, he decided he would find out. 

He found the clasps, clicking them both open and sliding the lid open. 

The next thing he knew, he was sitting on a bus. 

And not one that was military approved, and when he was outside he was in a city, one he had never seen before. 

“What the hell?” He asked, blinking as he looked around. His heard was pounding and everything felt out of place. All he remembered was opening Klaus’s briefcase, seeing a super bright light, feeling like he was folding into himself and then this. He looked to the side, seeing an older gentleman holding a newspaper. “Can I see that sir?” 

The man looked at him, and Dave realized he probably looked insane. He was still in his fatigues, his hands and body covered in blood-he didn’t think of who’s it was- and covered in around five layers of dirt. 

The man said nothing, simply extending the newspaper and jerking back when Dave grabbed it, looking slightly afraid. 

Dave read over the headlines, seeing nothing of use so he glanced up at the date. 

2019\. 

What the fuck? 

“Thank you,” He stammered out, throwing the newspaper down and pulling at the line above his head for the bus to stop. 

He grabbed the briefcase and stumbled off the bus, turning in a circle to stare at the buildings around him. 

He was a country boy, born and raised in a small town. Buildings like these? He had never seen them before. He felt like they would fall over any seconds and kill him. 

Maybe he wouldn’t mind that too much. 

He shook his head, walking forwards on shaking legs to sit down heavily on the bench in front of him. 

He needed a second to process, to think. 

Klaus had a time machine under his bed. A time machine that brought Dave to the 2000s. He hadn’t even thought he’d truly live long enough to make it here. 

But did all that even matter? Klaus was still dead, his body back in 1969, rotting in a medical tent while waiting to be picked up by a helicopter. 

Where would they even bury him? Klaus said he had no family to lay a claim to him, no family that would care if he died. 

A thought dug into Dave’s mind, almost unthinkable in its absurdity, but then again Klaus saw ghosts and Dave was currently in 2019, so really anything was possible at this point. 

At the rate Dave was going at he half expected the sky to split open and God to descend from the heavens in the form of a homophobic cowboy. 

But the thought still was there, a blurry memory of a night spent under the stars with Klaus. They told the men they were going to have a late rinse off, and spent the late hours of the night with the feet in the river, lying back with their hands clasped together. 

He had asked Klaus about where he lived, and Klaus told him about a mansion so big it took up an entire block. Klaus had told him he lived in a city, one with buildings so large it would blow Dave away. When Dave asked where it was, Klaus rattled off some random number and told him it was somewhere very far away. He only laughed when Dave asked if he lived in Russia. 

He found himself getting to his feet, forcing himself to move. 

Was there a point to this? Probably not, but Klaus was dead and he was tossed 50 years into the future so he might as well make the best of it. 

He was still covered in dirt and blood, with two pairs of dog tags on his neck and a look of shock on his face. No wonder people on the street kept on staring at him, walking to the other side of the street to avoid him. He tried to care, found that he didn’t have it in him. 

When he found the house, it was nearly an hour later, and he had pretty much given up. He was close to just opening the briefcase again and hoping for the best. 

Klaus hadn’t lied when he said the house was large. It was massive, and Dave couldn’t help but be envious. But then he remembered all of what Klaus told him of his childhood, and well Dave was happy for his relatively normal life in a two-bedroom farmhouse. 

Walking up to the door felt like it took a million years. What was he even expecting from this? To knock and meet Klaus' family? What then? Would he tell them that their brother had managed to somehow teleport to 1969 and died in the Vietnam war? Or would he meet one of Klaus’s family descendants who had never heard of their uncle? 

He didn’t know what he wanted, but he knocked anyway. 

It took forever for someone to answer, so long Dave was debating to leave when the door swung open to reveal what looked like a middle-aged woman who also managed to look like every 50’s housewife. 

“Hello,” She said, her lips pulled into an artificial-looking smile. “May I help you?” 

“Um, yeah.” He replied, blinking in slight surprise. He wasn’t quite sure what to say. “I’m a friend of Klaus’s?” He said, watching as the woman’s smile somehow widened. 

“Oh!” She exclaimed, clapping her hands together. “That’s wonderful, that boy needs more friends in his life. He’s not in right now, in fact, I haven’t seen him for a while, maybe come back later?” 

“Oh,” He said stupidly, his heart clenching painfully. Klaus wasn’t in now and wouldn’t be coming anytime soon, given the fact that he was lying dead the last time Dave saw him. “I know that. Can I come in? I need to tell your family something.” He said, in a hurry, deciding he might as well inform them. 

Maybe they would grieve with him, and he would get to be surrounded by people who loved Klaus as he loved him. 

As a Jewish man, he was used to grieving with others. Mourning was a universal thing, something that relied on others to happen. You did not mourn in private, but as a community, as a family. But Dave had a feeling there would be no week of mourning in this family, even as it somehow hurt more to think like that. 

“Of course you can come in, the others are in the living room right now, except Vanya, but I’m sure they would love to have you.” The woman said, stepping aside. 

“Thanks,” He said awkwardly, and somehow on a level he knew that this was where Klaus was from. His lover was somehow from the future, and that would be so cool if Klaus wasn’t still fucking dead. “Um, if you don’t mind asking, who was Klaus to you?”

“He didn’t tell you about me?” The woman asked, cocking her head to the side. “I’m his mother of course.” Then she marched off, presumably towards the living room. 

He just met Klaus’s mother. Grace, was what Klaus called her when he didn’t refer to her as mom. That woman looked way too young to be it, but who was he to judge? Klaus had mentioned he was adopted after all. 

He walked after her, almost like he was dreading every step. What would his siblings really be like? He knew the bare minimum from what Klaus told him, but actually meeting them was so much different. He had dreamed of this scenario, of meeting Klaus’s family, but in them Klaus was always beside him, his hand clasped tightly in his as they talked to the family. 

Instead, Dave was here to tell them how Klaus died, if he can even mention it without feeling like his throat was closing and he was drowning. 

Grace led him past the stairs into a large living area, where four people sat near a bar staring at him with weird looks on their faces. 

“And who the hell are you?” One of the men said, wearing all black and holding a knife for some reason. Dave would feel threatened, but he had a feeling that it was all for theatrics. 

“This is a friend of Klaus,” Grace said, a smile still plastered onto her lips. “He says he has something to tell us all.” Then she marched away.

“Oh god,” The largest man said, rolling his eyes. “Are you some sort of druggie?” 

“What?” Dave said, taken aback. “No, of course not.” 

“Then he’s not really a friend of Klaus’s.” Knife dude said, settling back into his seat. Dave felt like hitting him. 

“Shut up,” The woman snapped, glaring at them. “Let the man speak.” 

“Fine,” The smallest boy said, rolling his eyes. “What did Klaus get into this time? He should be here helping us.” 

Dave took a second to just process things once again. So far, Klaus’s siblings were just how Klaus described, assholes. 

“I’m not sure quite how to start,” he said, walking a little further in and setting the briefcase down on the floor, it was heavy as hell. 

“How about you start with your name?” The woman suggested, leaning against the bar. 

“Oh, yeah,” He said, shaking his head. “I’m Dave.” 

“I’m Allison,” The woman said, before gesturing to the big guy. “That’s Luther, the kids Five, and the brooding guy in leather is Diego.” 

“I resent that.” Knife dude, or Diego, said.

“How long have you known Klaus?” Allison cut in, again proving to be the only person who had manners.

“Ten months.” He said. “I’ve known him for ten months.” 

It would be more accurate to say that he knew Klaus for ten months, but the idea of talking about Klaus in the past tense, of admitting that he was truly gone? It made him physically ache.

“That’s longer than most of his flings,” Diego muttered, and Dave decided to move past that and pretend he never heard him speak.

“Okay,” Dave said slowly, trying to get his bearings. “How long has Klaus been gone again?” He said, looking at them all. 

“Like, three to four days,” Diego said, shrugging. “Not unusual for him.” 

“It’s enough time for him to get in trouble,” Luther sighed, shaking his head to turn to Dave. “What did he do this time?” 

“What did he do?” Dave asked hollowly, blinking slowly. This wasn’t going quite as he pictured. 

“Yeah,” Luther said. “What did he do? We’ve having an important talk here and would appreciate if you could hurry up so we can continue?” 

“I’m not following,” Dave said stupidly, because to be honest he really wasn’t. Their brother had been missing for four days- which was weird to imagine because it’s been ten months since Klaus showed up- and they were showing absolutely no concern at all. Like Klaus was some inconvenience to them.

“You obviously come here with bad news, so what did he do?” Diego snapped. “Did he rob a store? Get arrested? Overdose? You know, the usual things.” 

Dave suddenly couldn’t hear over the rushing in his ears, the anger that surged over him so rapidly he thought it would knock him over. 

“Is that all he is to you?” He asked, almost like he was unaware he was doing it. “A junkie?” 

He knew Klaus had a problem with drugs, one that stemmed from the horrors he saw daily, but did he family really think that lowly of him? That they had no concern if Klaus was alright, only figuring he got himself into trouble? 

Klaus was so much more than that, so much more than a junkie, a criminal. The thought of these assholes seeing him as less than the amazing, goofy, caring idiot Dave knew made his blood boil. 

“Can we get on with it?” Five snapped, seeming almost annoyed. “You interrupted something important.” 

“You really don’t care for him, do you?” Dave asked, almost in wonder. Klaus had told him that his siblings never saw him as an equal, but Dave had held onto the small hope that maybe he was exaggerating, that all families loved each other. If his siblings accepted him for being gay, Dave couldn’t have imagined them shunning him for anything else. 

“Of course we care,” Allison snapped. “It’s just we know Klaus, and he gets himself into trouble too much. It’s exhausting to worry every time someone says they have bad news about him.” 

Dave only laughed. 

“Are you okay dude?” Diego asked, looking warier now, as if he was seeing something he didn’t like. “You’re covered in dirt and blood.” 

“I just got back from a war dipshit,” he snapped. “So obviously I’m doing fine.” He said sarcastically. 

“War?” Luther asked, looking Dave over with a new curiosity. “How?” 

“Somehow, this briefcase teleported me here, anyone care to explain that?” Dave said, lifting up the briefcase to show them. 

Five's eyes widened, and in the span of a single blink, the boy was there, ripping it from Dave’s hands before he could protest. 

“How did you get this?” Five snapped, holding it close to him. “Are you part of the Commission?” 

“I have no idea what the hell that is,” Dave said, and Five disappeared into a flash of blue light, sitting at the bar once again. 

And okay, that was weird, but it was one of the most normal things Dave had seen all day so he decided to let it slip. 

“Where is Klaus?” Five snapped, looking up at him. “Did he give this to you?” 

“No,” Dave shook his head. “It was his, I got it after.” 

He couldn’t bring himself to say after Klaus died, couldn’t force the words out of his throat and into the air. 

“After what?” Allison asked, her arms crossed. 

He wanted to speak, to explain to them that Klaus wasn’t coming back now or ever, but the words got caught in his throat and he found he couldn’t speak at all, the reality of this situation coming down hard on top of him. 

“Will you at least tell us when he is coming back?” Five asked, a hand slamming down onto the counter and it sounded like a gunshot going off and suddenly all Dave could see was Klaus’s blank eyes staring up at the sky, his chest a bloody wound as Dave screamed for a medic. 

“He’s not coming back.” He managed to say, his eyes shutting as he forced himself to come back to the present, to press back against the remains of gunshots in his ears and the feeling of Klaus’s warm blood against his hands. “He’s not coming back.” 

The siblings weren’t sure how to take that, because they were still silent when he managed to open his eyes to look at them. 

They looked more confused than anything, like they weren’t able to grasp what Dave was telling them. He opened his mouth to continue talking when tow more people walked into the room. 

“Vanya!” Allison said, standing up straighter and glaring at the man behind her. 

“What’s going on here?” Vanya asked, her eyes flickering around the room, landing on him for a long time. 

“It’s family business,” Allison said immediately, and Dave got the impression that she didn’t like that other guy very much. 

“Then who is he and why is he here?” Vanya asked, glaring over at Dave. 

“A friend of Klaus’s,” Diego said stressing the word friend, almost like he was implying something else.

“Why is he here?” Vanya repeated. 

“Hopefully,” Five said. “To tell us why Klaus decided to not come back to help us stop the end of the world.” 

The end of the world? Dave decided to not read into that too much and just assume that Five was super dramatic. 

“What did he do this time?” Vanya asked, sighing and stepping in to take a seat, the man awkwardly hovering behind her. 

“He died.” Dave snapped, because honestly his patience was done. He was sick and tired of all these people assuming the worst of Klaus, especially when he had literally died and they couldn’t give a fuck. 

“What?” Diego asked, and suddenly five voices were speaking at once, and somehow Vanya’s date managed to slip out of the room. 

“What do you mean he died?” Luther said, a look of horror on his face. 

“It’s pretty self-explanatory,” Dave deadpanned. He felt hollow again, like someone carved him out with a spoon and sucked his insides out with a straw. 

“How?” Five asked, somehow getting everyone to stop talking and look at him. “Where did he go? Where are you from?” 

“1969,” Dave told them, leaning heavily on the couch, unable to stare any of them in the eyes. “The Vietnam War. Bullet to the chest.” 

“That’s impossible,” Allison said, but she was sitting down now, a blank look on her face. “How could he get there?” 

“With this.” Five said, patting the briefcase. “The Commission uses it to travel through time, he must have somehow gotten it off Hazel and Cha Cha.” 

Diego tensed at the name, and unreadable look of anger on his face. 

“Your lying.” He said, standing up suddenly and waving a finger in Dave’s face as he prowled towards him. Dave felt himself tensing up, wishing for the familiar feeling of the gun in his hands. “You killed him didn’t you? You're using all this time travel bullshit as a cover? Is that what this is?” 

“I didn’t kill him,” Dave said, anger surging through him once again at the thought of him ever laying a single finger on his lover. “Don't you dare accuse that of me.” 

“Hey,” Luther snapped, walking forwards quickly to put an arm in between them. “Let’s not jump yo conclusions.” 

“Klaus is dead?” Vanya said, and Dave nodded. 

“He is.” He confirmed. 

“How do you know?” Five asked. “Did you see him get shot? Or did you only hear that he was dead? Are you sure he’s really gone?” 

“I held him,” Dave snapped, and he could hear Klaus’s voice, weakly repeating his name over and over again until he died, could feel the warmth of Klaus’s blood and the feeling of his heart ceasing to pump. “I held him as he died. I felt his heart stop.” 

Saying it was something he couldn’t handle, like admitting he felt Klaus’s heart stopped was actually admitting to the fact that Klaus was long gone, rotting in the ground by this point. That they couldn’t ever have their happily ever after. 

He took a step around the couch and fell heavily into the cushions, feeling weighed down by rocks, like the only thing that had kept him upright was Klaus, and now that Klaus was gone he wouldn’t be able to ever move again. 

“Oh my god,” Vanya said, curling into herself and she was sobbing, Allison rushing over to gather her in her arms. 

“This isn’t possible,” Luther whispered, leaning heavily on the counter. 

“It can’t be right,” Diego muttered again. “He’s just out getting high or something, right? That’s what he does.” 

“Get your head out of your ass,” Dave snapped, a part deep inside him finally snapping as he surged to his feet. “Your brother is dead, and yet you somehow are still managing to insult him by believing that he is nothing but a worthless druggie.” 

“Don’t you yell at me,” Diego said, his voice raw and Dave knew that the man was dealing with grief in the only way he could, but Dave wouldn’t stand by and let the love of his life name get slandered like that. “I know my brother better than you.” 

“Do you?” Dave challenged. “What’s his favorite color? Favorite food? What movies does he like? Do you guys know any of that?” 

They remained silent, staring at him with wide eyes. 

“Klaus was not a druggie getting high for fun. He was tortured every day by ghosts so horrible I can’t even imagine and turned to the only thing he could do to cope. He is the strongest man I know and yet you stand here and drag his name through the dirt, like he meant nothing to you, like he was nothing but a nuisance, the druggie, the addict.” Dave ranted. “You know, when he told me no one had ever cared about him, I thought he was lying. I thought that you were his family, so you had to love him right? But standing here, talking to you, somehow I find it hard to believe that you ever gave two shits about him.” 

“Don’t say that,” Luther whispered. “We did our best.” 

“Apparently not, because he’s been missing for four days here and you guys didn’t care.” Dave pointed out hollowly. “He suffered daily, and you brushed him off, belittled him until he gave up searching for a family here.” 

“We loved him,” Allison said softly, and Dave melted slightly. They were grieving. Sure they weren’t the best siblings, but then again, form the stories Klaus told he wasn’t the best either. 

“I know you did,” He said softly. “But you never showed him that, and he died thinking you all hated him.” 

Vanya sobbed again, and Dave sat back down, all fight leaving him. 

“You loved him,” He whispered. “And he loved you, more than he could ever describe, but he still died thinking there was no home to go back to, that living life in an active warzone was better than facing the humiliation he suffered here.” 

No one spoke for a very long time.

“I can go back,” Five said, absently rubbing his hand over the leather briefcase. 

“Go back to where?” Dave asked, blinking in confusion. 

“Back to the past,” Five said, staring at Dave. “I could save him.” 

Dave first felt a sense of relief like nothing else, a joy that was unapparelled to anything he ever felt. Maybe this weird boy really could save Klaus, could stop him from getting shot and dying in the desolate wasteland of Vietnam. 

Then it crumbled around him. 

“You save him,” He said softly. “You’d make sure he never goes back to the past.” 

“Well, yes,” Five said. “That’s the only way to truly ensure that he wouldn’t die.” 

Dave nodded, biting his lip. 

He would never meet Klaus, would never fall in love with him. 

“Where would that leave me?” He asked, and Five looked at him strangely. 

“You would have never come here, and you would continue to live your life as a soldier as if Klaus never appeared into your life.” Five replied. 

“I would never meet him,” Dave repeated, staring at his hands. 

How could he be so selfish? Klaus could be alive, still breathing, heart beating, and Dave felt sad? 

But he couldn’t picture how his life would be without ever meeting Klaus. He couldn’t picture what his life would be like without Klaus to remind him how to live it. Dave wouldn’t lie, without Klaus he wouldn’t have lasted long, would probably have found a way to have a clean death by a bullet. Klaus hadn’t erased all his issues, not by a long shot, but Klaus taught him how to live again. 

Klaus reminded Dave that life was beautiful, and every moment was worth living. He brought Dave back from the edge and showed him the beautiful things that Dave was never aware of. He taught Dave how to have hope, dreams, that he could want things. 

Without Klaus? Dave wouldn’t have been about to flourish into the person he was meant to be. 

A part of him wondered how Klaus would fare too. Klaus often told him how much he meant; how much Dave changed his life. 

Dave knew that Klaus didn’t have the best life, that his addiction had led him to do things he was not proud of. And sure, Klaus hadn’t been fully clean, but he had been trying. He had promised to try for Dave, had said that Dave gave him the final push he needed to attempt and wean himself off of drugs. Klaus told him stories sometimes, about how his life was before. His lover wasn’t afraid to admit that he was a shitty person, that he lied, stole, was selfish and hurt so many people. But that wasn’t the Klaus Dave knew, the Klaus he knew had changed, had morphed himself into a better version of himself. You couldn’t compare the two of them ten months earlier to what they were a few days ago. They weren’t the same people. 

“It’ll be worth it,” Dave whispered, as if trying to convince himself of the fact. “He deserves to live.” 

“Even without you?” Five asked, the look in his eyes knowing. “Do you deserve to live without him?” 

“No,” Dave said, without hesitating. He wasn’t a fan of soulmates, had never believed that there was someone out there to complete him. 

But he knew without hesitation that Klaus was meant to fit in his arms. That they were meant to orbit around each other, and without their relationship they would just be too lost meteors, flying throughout space without meaning or direction. 

He was lost without Klaus already, every second without him a physical challenge, but the thought of going back and never meeting Klaus, of living forever without the man who helped form him into the better man he was today? It felt like someone had stabbed him and was slowly pushing the knife in further. 

Dave wasn’t a good man, had lied and cheated and hurt everyone around him. He thought going to war would help him, would change him into a better man. But it wasn’t the war that shaped him into someone that deserved to continue to walk on this earth, it was Klaus. Klaus who had taught him true love, who taught him how to be a better person even with his faults.

“You loved him,” Allison said softly, her face melting into something he couldn’t name. 

“I love him.” He declared, and he stared them all in the eyes, daring them to disagree with him. “Death does nothing to limit how he makes me feel, death doesn’t stop me from loving him with every atom of my being.” 

“He’s a poet now,” Diego grumbled, but Dave ignored him and Luther managed to smack the back of his head lightly. 

“So what do you want me to do?” Five snapped. “Let him die? Not happening.” 

“I want him to live,” Dave said firmly. “And if forgetting him is the price, then so be it. It doesn’t mean I have to like it, or want it.” 

The room was silent for a long moment, and Dave wiped a tear away from his cheek, his heart pounding as he watched the dry blood on his hands crumble a bit at the friction. 

“I think I can figure something else out,” Five said slowly. “A way to keep him alive but also make sure he meets you.” 

“What?” Dave said, his eyes snapping up to meet the teens. “You can?” 

“I think so,” Five said. “But you won’t like it.” 

“I don’t care,” He said, stumbling to his feet. “Can you save him? And make sure that he still meets me?” 

He felt like a kid begging for presents, praying that it’ll be what he wants but knowing that even if he is disappointed it's all he deserves. Maybe Five is only saying this so he won’t feel as bad when he goes back and erases Klaus from Dave’s mind. 

It wouldn’t matter anyway, because if Five goes and prevents Klaus from going to the past, Dave wouldn’t even know Klaus enough to grieve. 

Somehow that thought hurt more. 

“I can.” Five confirms, a sad but determined look in his eyes. 

“Then do it.” He says, and before he could react, think, talk, do anything else. Five opens up the suitcase and suddenly there was nothing more. 

___________________________________

Dave hears Klaus talk, saying that stupid thing about it being a close one like he always did, but he can’t focus through the pain in his chest. 

Klaus was flipping him over, fear in his eyes as he presses his hands to Dave’s chest and it _hurts_ but somehow Dave isn’t scared. 

He’s staring up into Klaus’s eyes and they are beautiful, despite being clouded over with tears. Klaus always so beautiful, an angel fallen from the sky, a model formed only by the hands of a practiced sculptor. Even with his face morphed by fear and grief, he managed to be the most beautiful thing Dave had ever seen.

A part of him knows that this was how it was truly meant to be, that somehow he got it right this time. A part of him deep down was screaming that this was the way life was meant to be, that somehow he had managed to fix what was wrong. 

The second last thought that ran through his mind was how he hoped that Klaus didn’t mourn him for too long, that his lover could move on and continue living his life without Dave in it.

His last thought was how lucky he was to have Klaus in his life, no matter how short it was.

Then there was nothing.

________________________________________

Five loved his brother. He really did.

He spent years in the apocalypse, then more years doing horrible things all to ensure that one day he would be back with his family. His entire family, Klaus included. 

Five loved his brother, and that's why he pulled the trigger.

Hearing his brother's pained screams for a medic, begging his lover to wake up, it hurt. It truly did. But as much as he hated doing this, as much as regret coursed through even inch of his being, he knew there was no other way. 

For some reason, the unchangeable fact was that one of them had to die, that they truly weren't meant to be. It was horrible and Five wished that he could have been able to gift his brother the life he deserved beside Dave Katz. But Five knew that he didn't do this, then it would be his brother lying in the dirt, his life draining out of him as fast as the blood was. 

Five turned away, grabbing the briefcase and clutching at the controls. 

He knew Klaus would come back now, that much was sure. Klaus had nothing left here, the last tie to 1969 dead with a bullet to the chest. Five knew his brother would live, would come home so they could figure out the end of the world together. And a part of his also knew that the spirit of Dave was finally at rest. 

Did he regret killing the man? Yes, he did. But he had done worse things in his life, and he knew that in a way this was the right thing. He had managed to give Dave what he asked for, had made sure they had a very happy and fulfilling ten months together, and Five kept telling himself that as he traveled home to wait for Klaus to come back. 

Somehow, the words still seemed like lies.

**Author's Note:**

> So, Ghost!Klaus either didn't teleport with Dave and was stuck in Vietnam, or went with Dave and got reunited with Ben and they both ate popcorn while Dave chewed their siblings out. Your choice. I personally like the second option :) 
> 
> Anyways, leave a comment down below telling me anything! Did you hate it? Did you love it? Do you think I should shut up in the notes? Anything goes!! <3


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